JWC A Rugby Triumph For Wales

24 June 2008 09:53

By Mike Williams

The inaugural IRB Junior World Championship held in Wales has been hailed as a powerful and successful shop window for the game by the Welsh Rugby Union.

Forty one games involving sixteen nations took place across Wales throughout June with New Zealand claiming the world title with a 38 points to three victory over England at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea on Sunday 22 June.

Wales U20 celebrated a fourth place finish after South Africa claimed third spot with a 43 points to 18 victory over the Welsh at the same venue.

The tournament was broadcast in 70 countries by 16 broadcasters to potentially some 300 million homes involving 323 hours of live rugby.

In Wales more than 14,000 youngsters got involved with the tournament in a WRU devised legacy programme either by watching games, attending team training sessions or meeting players and officials in their regions. Many of those children have been involved in a variety of projects to get to know more about the nations visiting Wales to play in the tournament.

The early games were split into four pools of four and international matches were played throughout Wales at Cardiff Arms Park, The Racecourse in Wrexham, Rodney Parade in Newport and The Liberty Stadium in Swansea.

Some 400 rugby coaches from Wales benefitted from attending training sessions held by the international teams based in Wales. The players and officials taking part have also been learning more about the host nation with the tournament guide brochure published as an entirely bilingual document in Welsh and English.

That brochure has been taken back home to all sixteen nations where the Welsh language will now be part of the legacy of the 2008 inaugural tournament. The programme for the final was also printed fully bilingually.

"To welcome the rugby world once more to our nations has been a great honour for us all and we sincerely thank the International Rugby Board for granting us this privilege.

"We also have to thank the Welsh Assembly Government, UK Sport's World Class Events programme, our principal partner Invesco Perpetual and all our other commercial partners for making the tournament work so well."

The tournament boosted the profile of age grade rugby in Wales with the teams featuring players with professional experience gained in the Magners League, Heineken Cup, EDF Energy Cup, Guinness Premiership in England, Top 14 in France and Super 14 in the southern hemisphere.